Day 8 (continued) - An expensive shirt...

Now sat waiting at McCarran Airport, upto now Virgin are admitting to a 1 hour delay... I suspect a little longer!

Anyway, back to Day 8, I returned the shirt to the shop in Paris and exchanged it for a smaller one... So far so good. Back through into Bally's and I think I'll have a couple of hours at the cash game and then back to the Gold Coast for another 2 or 3 hours there. Well at 1:00 am I'm sat in Bally's trying to get my money back... In the end I cash out $150 in the red, that's two losing cash sessions now on this trip. I must be losing my touch!!

So that's about it... overall a very satisfying trip. I'm taking home more money than I brought with me, even after all pressies, souvenirs, food, taxis etc. - which has to be a bonus. This year I played more tourneys (with only the one cash) and at bigger buy-ins than last year, with less cash game play.... however, the profit, over and above the cash I brought with me, is just about enough to cover the hotel bill... leaving me out of pocket by just the cost of the flight, parking and fuel. That's about £500 for 8 days in Vegas, including two WSOP events.

Day 8 - Not looking good at half time...

Well, it's my last full day in Vegas for this trip and I do indeed make it to Wynn, Las Vegas (to give it it's full title), for their $330 NLHE tournament at 12:00 pm. This was was my first time in the place and it is very, very nice. However, while the poker room is nice, like Bellagio, it is a bit cramped. I have now visited all of what are consdered to be the 'nicest' poker rooms in Vegas and, for me, the Venetian still wins hands down.

Unfortunately there seems to have been some malfunction of the auto-shuffle machine on my table. I sat there for 90 mins without a playable hand... then I get all my chips in pre-flop, with KK, only to lose to JJ when a J hit on the river! I informed the TD of the problem with the machine, he said he would get it serviced and get back to me.

So, only 3:30pm and back in my hotel room already... taking some of the dehydration remedy left over from yesterday. The weather thing, over on the right of the page there, says it's only 102 degF at the moment so I may go out for a jog... or, I may just head back over to Bally's for some $1/$2 NL action. I have to exchange a shirt I bought in Paris, that was obviously made for an American fat bloke not an English one... it's quite theraputic to be able to buy things a size smaller than usual. :-)

This current 24 hrs of internet usage, that I have paid an arm and a leg for, will have expired before tonight so I will probably post the final update from the airport tomorrow, I believe the wi-fi is free there.

Day 7 - Paris without Frogs... Cool

I decided to give tournament play a miss yesterday and go and play some cash in a couple of different properties, that I had not previously visited. So the day started with a walk across to the Rio to use the $10 comp voucher that I recieved for the Seniors Event, but didn't use - since I didn't make it anywhere close to the dinner break!! I timed my entry to the Carnival World Buffet just right (not by design I must add), walk in just a few mins before 11:00 am and pay an additional $3.95 for breakfast and by the time I had been seated and ordered a drink all the lunch items were at the counters.

So, fully re-fuelled I get the free shuttle to Bally's and within minutes I am seated at a $1/$2 NL game and take the max buy-in of $300. After approximately 2 hours I have close to $800 and fully expect to leave the table having recouped the $1000 of the Seniors Event buy-in.... that is until I horribly misread a hand!!! I'm in a pot with on old(er) guy who has already re-bought a couple of times. The flop is KQx, superb for my 'KQs'... Matey checks and I bet about half the pot and he calls, which I know he would do if he held an Ace... turn is an A, and he bets out... Perfect, I raise he calls... River is of no concern, he checks I bet another $100... he calls and flips over his Ace/Rag for one pair... I turn my cards over and the Qh has miraculously changed to the Th... WTF!!!! Almost $300 gone on that hand.... That's around £150 in real money you know!

For the next 20 mins or so I carry on playing but I just can't get that mistake out of my head. I did get a bit of it back, then made a really bad call and I realise that, although it really pained me to leave the table while this guy still had my chips, if I didn't get up I might easily donk off the rest of my profit. So, reluctantly I leave the table and cash-out $554, for a $254 profit.

I wander through from Bally's to Paris and stop along the way for a Crepe Suzette... mmm, Very nice. Paris is a nice casino in a 'Venetian Grand Canal Shoppes' kind of way. A high ceiling painted to look like the sky and the casino floor made to look like it is happening outside in a town square. I find the poker room, which is about 8 or 9 tables crammed into an area which has been stolen from the sportsbook (what we call bookmakers) area. I see a $1/$2 game going but I don't get a good feeling about the place... I still have that misread going round in my head. I give up on the idea of playing any more poker for the time being and have wander round the shops.

It's about 5:00 pm now and hotter than hell outside so I decide to get the shuttle back, relax in my room for a couple of hours and then hit the Gold Coast cash game. I figure on waiting inside Bally's reception until the bus shows but when I look outside there is what looks like almost a bus full already queueing. So I decide to brave the heat and get in the queue. It must have been almost 20 mins before the bus turns up... A sign outside a store across the road kept flashing up 116 degF, I thought my brain had poached!

Back at the GC I need re-hydrating, I go into the shop just inside the building and they have bottled water at $1.75 or a six-pack of Bud-Lite for $5.29... since they both taste about the same I bought the Bud-Lite as it worked out cheaper. :-)

Two bottles of Bud later, showered and refreshed, I head down to the poker room and straight into an empty seat in the $1/$2 game and buy-in for $200. I'm quickly up to about $350 and then just as quickly down to about $70, when all the money goes in pre-flop and my AA doesn't hold up against KK. I buy another $100 and grind it out for about another 3 hours and eventually leave the table at 1:00 am with another $212 profit.

Another profitable day, but it could have so much better if only the poker Gods and my eyes hadn't let me down.

Today, I'm going to have a look at the Wynn for the first time and play their $300'ish tournament at midday.

Day 6 - Back down to earth with a bunp...

Wow, what a difference two days and 1000 less chips makes... busted out of the $1000 Seniors World Championship, after about 3 1/2 hours. I didn't look at the screen to how many of the 1800 or so other hopefuls I had managed to beat - more of the reason why in a moment!!

Obviously the euphoria that I was feeling having cashed in a World Series of Poker Event had masked the dissapointment of getting knocked out... because I left the Rio Saturday night (Sun morning) feeling on top of the world. As I left the building this afternoon, I had the same sick feeling in my stomach that I remeber from last year.

That feeling has subsided a bit now and on reflection there were plenty of positives to come from the few hours that I sat at the table... Again I was pretty happy with my play, at the this current moment in time I think I'm playing as good as I can - I think I know where my game needs improving, but when you've gat £750 or £500 on the line it's not the time to be experimenting. I've seen some class acts at work these last few days (and it really is work for these people - not a pastime as it is for most people reading this), and I think this experience, for someone who would like to move their game to the next level, is invaluable.

O'Neil Longson

From hand one today I had a guy called O'Neil Longson at my table - I'd never heard of him but he's a 3 time bracelet winner - almost busted following a suck-out in the first level, he was down to 250 chips... when they broke our table, 3 hours later, he was the big stack at the table!! Other than the 250 chip all-in I don't think he had to show another hand... he just seemed to instinctively know when people were weak and raise them out of the pot - pure class (aside from the fact that he fell asleep at the table a couple of times??).

Men 'The Master' Nguyen

About 3/4 of the way through the second level Men 'The Master' Nguyen joined the table with a big stack of chips, sat two seats to my left this severely hampered any blind stealing I might have been considering... again it was a pleasure to watch him at work, raising every other hand, re-raisng and taking pots down. Of course a large part of it is that his reputation intimidates people. I know, as did everyone else, that he didn't have a hand every time but still they fold.

And then there was this guy... I'm fairly certain his mother and his mother-in-law are the same person!!! By the time my first table broke I had 2150 chips, I get table 1, seat 1... waaaaay over the other side of the room, I fight my way through the hoards of people star spotting in the $50k HORSE (that is so last year!), take my seat and before my chips are out of the rack there are two cards in front of me - Js8s - now young Grizzly Adams here raises it up UTG to 600 (100/200 blinds) and fold round to me... now, I think to myself, "What can an old timer like him know about poker, he's not the champion of a whole continent, he's not played a gozillian hands online - heck, I bet they don't even have that thar eelectricicity whar he's from - I just know I can outplay him after the flop"... so I call the 600. Flop is QsJh2s, cool 2nd pair and the flush draw... now our friend bets out 800 and I just know he doesn't have a made hand... I push all-in for another 750... Mr Adams has me covered by about 1k, he um's and he ah's muttering away to himself. I pick up the words "Ain't gonna get better odds than this" ... by now I know I'm ahead and figure he's probaly got a flush draw... anyway, Einstein calls and flips over Ah7h... You'll do for me Tommy, I recognise right away that I'm a 93.025% to 6.975% favourite in this hand and I'm already stacking my 4300 chips in my head... until, that is the dealer turns over runner, runner hearts to give him the flush. Bollocks!!! "Nice hand Sir" I say, in my poshest oxbridge voice, without even a hint of sarcasm, and he doesn't even look up, just starts stacking the chips. Good pot odds my ass... the pot is paying 5/1 and he's a 14/1 dog!! Still, I shouldn't take the piss really, I was pleased with my read of the situation, I think he made a bad call, it happens and you want it to happen... as they say, "be careful what you wish for".

So that was the reason for my not even bothering to look to find out where I'd finished... as I said earlier it is a gut wrenching feeling getting knocked out and I just wanted to get out of there and back to the hotel.

Hung La

Back to the real class acts, these I had the pleasure of playing with on Saturday... In seat 1 on my first table was an asian guy* who I know I've seen on the telly, but whose name escapes me - so that's not very impressive I know!

*Edit: OK, found him... Hung La, WPT Season 3 he made 2 final tables.

Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson

When that table broke I moved about 4 tables down the room and had the pleasure of Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson's company. It wasn't more than about 30 mins before this table was broken and we all move again, so I didn't get to watch him in action for very long.

Next it is table 12, seat 8... good I think, I won't have to move again tonight - once again be careful what you wish for! Seated to my right was the table chip daddy (and soon to become tourney leader) a guy called John Kranyak and boy did he play that big stack well. He went on to finish 4th in the tournament, for a cool $170,639... not bad for three day's work. He said that he also chopped the Bellagio tournament Friday night for $40k.

El Blondie

Also on this table was Dave 'El Blondie' Colclough, in seat 1, I would have introduced myself but he was pretty short stacked and didn't look to be having too good a time of it. In fact it was probably less than 10 hands when his UTG raise was re-raised by the BB to put him all-in... he called and lost with AJo vs 44.

That's it bang upto date... more when it happens.

Day 5 - Not much to report...

First, a little bit more from Saturday... The most memorable hand of the day came around 8:30pm... I'm in the cut-off and it's folded to Matey on my right, who raises...I re-raise with KcKs, everyone else folds and Matey calls and then 'checks dark'... the flop was Q52 with two hearts (not the Q)... Matey immediately calls 'All-In', and is then reminded that he had already checked dark. Well, I have to say I didn't really know what to make of this! Was it intentional or had he just got excited at having flopped a monster?? I had Matey covered, about 3:2... if I call and win I have a big stack, if I lose I am in deep crap. What does he have? If he's not bluffing (which I don't think he is), then the best I can hope for is AQ or KQ, where I am a big favourite... if he has KhQh, I'm a little ahead... AhQh, then while I'm ahead he is actually favourite to win... QQ, 55 or 22 and I'm in big trouble! So I figure the best thing to now is check and hope for a K on the turn... well no King and Matey pushes, as expected... after a long, long think, I fold the KK face-up - to the amazement of the whole table - and Matey is kind enough to show his pocket 5's... Phew!!!!

I think this decision was a critical point in the game in more ways than one... obviously if I'd have called and lost 2/3rds of my stack I would really have been up against it, but just as importantly it gave me huge boost of confidence and really helped to keep me awake and focussed for the rest of the day.

So, on to Sunday, I played the $150 PLO hi/lo at Binions, this ended up with a field three times bigger than they were expecting, at 389... my PLO8 really isn't that strong so I was pretty happy with my 74th place, even though it was well off the money.

Today (Monday) I'm going to re-invest $1000 and play in the WSOP Seniors Event... I was very dissapointed after busting out of this event last year, after only 3 hours... so with new found confidence I am going to go over there and whup them old timers good!! :-)

Wish me luck!!

Day 4 - A little bit more betterer...

This is just a real quick update - cos I am totally shattered - on today's proceedings.

WSOP 2007 Event #38 $1500 NLHE 2787 runners -

I finished in 212th place and cashed for $3602.

Started at 12:00 noon Saturday and I busted out at about 1:30 am Sunday morning.

I'll update with more details when I've had some sleep.

Day 3 - A little better...

Well, I finally made it Downtown, as intended, to play the Binions Poker Classic $100 NLHE event. The only slight hiccup was that, for some unknown reason, I thought it started at 12:00 noon when in fact it started at 2:00 pm... damn, I could have had another hour in bed. So with an extra 2 hours to kill I take an empty seat in a $1/$2 NL cash game. About 90 mins later I cash-out for $104 profit... that's the tourney buy-in covered.

The final total entries in the tourney (inc. alternates) was 574, with 54 being paid and $11k for the winner ... I lasted a little over 5 hours and finished somewhere between 110th and 120th. Again, I was quite happy with my play. It all went wrong when I run AJs into the short(ish) stack's pocket Aces, that knocked me down to about 3k chips and with it costing 2.8k per round in blinds and antes (100/600/1200) the end was obviously nigh!!

The Poker Hall of Fame, at Binions.

It was then time for a wander up and down Freemont Street... Wow, what a contrast to the strip! Not the out and out oppulence of the newer strip properties but vibrant and full of life in the evenings. If I have another trip over here I may split my stay between Downtown and the strip. I hung around for the first 'Freemont Street Experience' lightshow at 8:30 pm... the scale of the thing was impressive but the content very dissapointing.

Then a taxi back to the Rio to register for today's $1500 NLHE WSOP event - I'll be starting at table 83, seat 9... hopefully I'll survive long enough to be moved to another table. :-) Registration sorted, I was too tired to wander around star-gazing so strolled back the the Gold Coast for an early night... In bed just after 10: pm!! Then woke up at 5:00 am and get back of to sleep... oh well, I tried to get a real good night's sleep.

I'll update again tonight... hopefully to let you know how many chips I'm taking into Day 2!! :-)

Day 2 - After the Lord Mayor's Show...

Down to earth with a bump today... Probably the 1st mistake was throwing Plan A out of the window at the last minute and deciding on the $340 Deep Stack NLHE at the Venetian. The last time I remember looking at the screen and there were 438 entries, but that was before the break and they were still taking alternates at that point in time. I went out after about 4 1/2 hours after three 'big' hands in a row turned into 2nd best as the hand progressed. I think I played quite well and I'm happy with the decisions I made... although, at times, it was quite a fight against 'the voice inside my head'.

I had dinner at the Venetian, partially comped for playing in the tournament, and then back to the hotel to relax for an hour or two before heading down to the Poker Room for some cash game action. The cash game started well enough and within just a few hands I was $100 up... it then followed a similar theme as last night - down a bit... up a bit and a half... down a bit more... up some more. 3 1/2 hours on, having been up to appx $450 at one point, I was sitting on about $330... I have QQ in the big blind... 2 limpers, before the Cut-Off (a serial raiser) who raises it up to $12... SB folds and I re-raise to $35, folds to the CO who calls... the flop is all rags, with two hearts... I bet out $50 and get re-raised another $100 on top... I push all-in, and he calls for the extra $150. I was quite worried by the speed of his decision and felt sure he had trips. I was over the moon when he turned over AKo (no heart). Until, that is, the K came on the turn!!!!! I was too tired to re-load and try to claw it back sooooooo... after 2 days, purely on poker playing, the bankroll has slipped into the red, to the tune of appx $250!! :-(

Onto tomorrow (today!!), defintely Binions for the lunchtime $100 NLHE... 3500 chips and (I think) a 40 min clock.

That's all for the time being... a good nights sleep required now.

Day 1 - We're off and running...

First the not so good news... in the end we were about an hour late leaving Gatwick, but no big deal really. The flight was pretty much full and my seat was really uncomfortable, it wasn't quite the same adventure into the unknown as last year and the 10 hour flight did get very tedious... I hope it is a diffent aircraft going back beacuse I currently have the same seat booked!

After a wait of about 15 mins, in 100 deg heat, for a cab, the driver gave me the choice, for the ride from the airport, take the freeway - a bit further but less traffic, or the shorter route - with lots of traffic! I chose the shorter route and still paid $25... the driver reckons the other route would have cost the same but about 15 mins less... lesson learned for next time - book a limo!!

Anyway, now some better news... (first the background) by accident, I came to be in possesion of £4.20 of Rich's... when I told him, he said "Take it to Vegas and put it on Red"... so I suggested a deal - I'll put $8 on Red... if it loses - tough... if it wins - then I'll keep the $16 and Rich can have 1% of my 'winnings' in the $1500 WSOP event I'm playing on Saturday.

Well Rich, Congratulations - it was Red!!

The rest of the day went pretty much to plan... after a shower, I had a wander over to the Rio. I was going to part with my buy-in for Saturday's event but they were queueing out of the door for tournament registrations and this was about 8:00 pm. The queue wasn't moving very quickly so I gave up... I was starting to feel a little tired by now! Hopefully, I'll find shorter queues next time I go over there.

So, back to the Gold Coast for something to eat and drink and then finally to their Poker Room, at about 9:30... there were 3 names on the list for $1/$2 NL and after a wait of about 30 mins I get seated and buy-in for $200 (still the max here, most strip rooms now have $300 0r $500 max's). After about 2 1/2 hours of yo-yo'ing between $150 and $400, I eventually cash out for $496... a nice profit of $296, and in bed about 1:00 am.

It's now about 8:00 am and I'm feeling OK, so I'm going to stick to plan A... after a good (comped) breakfast at the GC buffet I will head downtown for the $200 PLHE at Binions.

Til later......

Departure Lounge, Gatwick...

Flight currently shown as delayed til 11:45, from 11:25, so not too bad... so long as they not speak with fork-tongue.

Yesterday's flight was delayed until 4:00 pm today!!!!!

Oh, and it was 84F at 1:56 AM, in Vegas!

All packed and ready to go...

Touchdown in Vegas scheduled for 1:40 pm (Vegas time) tomorrow afternoon, staying for 8 days at the Gold Coast... I probably wont venture too far tomorrow afternoon/evening, maybe wander over to the Rio for a look around (get some 'name dropping' ammunition) and/or some $1/$2 NL at the GC... just try and stay awake til about 11:00 pm and then get a good nights sleep... This seemed to work last year and I didn't really feel any ill effects of the travelling and the 28hr day!!!

The plan for Day 2 is to fuel up at the GC breakfast buffet (well my body will think it's tea time!!), and then, if I feel as well as I hope, it will be straight into it with the $200 PLHE at Binions... this will be my first visit downtown, as I didn't make it there last year.

I'm not too sure about Day 3 yet... Option A - back to Binions for the $100 NLHE or, Option B - maybe just play tourist for the day, have look at some hotels that I missed last year and dabble with some cash game play ($1/$2 NL). The decider will be how I play in the tourney on Thursday, not especially how deep I go - just how well I think I've played... recently I've had some poker tournament demons in my head that I am having a problem excorsizing!! If I'm happy with my play then it will be chill out with Option B; if not, then back to it at Binions.

Day 3 is my Main Event - the WSOP $1500 NLHE - and obviously I'm hoping his keeps me busy for Days 4 & 5 also!!

Watch this space....

Damn the rain (and the Guiness)....

Well, so much for "no poker" and "take the dogs for long walks"!!! I did have good intentions, honest guv... but then it started raining and I 'knew' the dogs wouldn't want go out in it. A few more mtt's have been attempted over the weekend without a terrible ammount of success... but I've been able to cover the buy-ins with SnG profits, so it's not all bad.

We (Teresa & me) went out Friday night to see dart player John Lowe play some exhibition matches for charity at a local pub... and ended up in a 4 handed cash game. It was just 20p/40p PLHE and whilst I was relatively sober all was going swimmingly, at one point I was up by about £85... then the Guinness started really taking hold... then someone suggested Omaha... then someone suggested Omaha hi/lo... and then I finished up about £20 down. But I think I must have won the hangover, as I was allowed to keep it all day saturday. :-(

John Lowe with the other members of "The Witney (inc. Carterton) Mob"

The voice inside my head...

Just six days now til I leave for Vegas and another tournament failure due to lack of concentration and/or enthusiasm and/or interest... this time it was a $33 freezeout mtt on blondepoker (ipoker network). I had got off to a decent start and then about 40 mins in and I have JJ in the BB... 5 limpers by the time it gets to me and I raise it up with a pot size bet... just one caller (the big stack) and we see a 9-high flop, with 2 diamonds... I bet out a little less than the pot and MateyBoy insta-raises me all-in... now, probably, the voice inside most people's heads would be saying, "Fold, he's hit trips"... am I right? Yes? So, why does the voice in my head say, "Call, he's on a flush draw!!"... wtf????

This has been a rather worrying, all too often occurrence for a few weeks now, add to that the usual ill-timed bluff attempts and there have been precious few tournament cashes in the last couple months.

So, no more poker until I get to Vegas... Harrington I & II have been dusted off, I'm going to do some reading, take the dogs for long walks and try to get my head straight!!

$22 Deep Stack Tourney - Right time to gamble?

Yesterday I had my 3rd go of the week at the $22 deep stack tourney on PokerStars. In the first two attempts I never really got going (in fact I went out 2nd hand with AA on Thu!!), but this time I managed to get deep in it.

I had cruised into the money, staying comfortably above the average chip count, but then it started getting harder and by the time the 2nd bubble came round (19 left) I was down to about 15th position with about 55k (out of appx 1.25 million chips in play, blinds 1k/2k with 100 ante). The short stack was disconnected and soon to be blinded out and I made a concious decision that once into the next pay bracket I would get ultra-aggressive and gamble to get a chips stack to be able to make a challenge for the 1st place prize of $1292.

With shortie gone and down to 18 players I get pocket 8s in the BB... as it's folding around I decide to move all-in if the cut-off raises (as he had a habit of doing!)... They fold right around and the cut-off predictably makes it 6000 to go (so far so good)... the button folds and then a fly in the ointment - the the SB, who had just moved to the table, moves all-in for appx 75k... damn!! After a few seconds thought I manage to convince myself that he was making a re-steal move with some sort of raggy ace and as I'm sure the OR is going to fold, I decide to call and take my chances in a coin flip!

Unfortunately, SB's re-steal was with pocket Kings - which somehow managed to hold-up!!

So, after a little over 6 hours I finish in 18th place for $55 - I won't give up the day job just yet.

I spent the next hour or so telling myself it was a dumb call and thinking about the difference between $55 and $1292... but now I'm not so sure??

Time to get limbered up ready for the APAT European Open...

APAT Irish Open...

Good news and bad news from the weekend...

Unfortunately The Witney (inc. Carterton) Mob had to leave short-handed after Rich had to make an un-scheduled visit to the 'menders'... happily he's feeling much better now.


Good news is that Paul took home the Bronze Medal and a cheque for £1000, for a highly creditable 3rd place. He was looking like the likely winner after repeatedly swapping the chip lead as the final table shrunk, but alas it wasn't to be.



I managed to cover the cost of the tournament entries, hotel, food and beer with the proceeds of a couple of winning cash game sessions... leaving me out of pocket by the cost of the flight, diesel and parking - so about £85 for a very enjoyable 4 day trip to Dublin... not too bad.

Photos courtesy of Des Duffy and www.apat.com